Here’s another quick round up of some Transformers 2 articles that are hitting the press at the moment.
Michael Bay’s earnings from first Transformers movie
via Yahoo,
Shia LaBeouf received an upfront sum of $500,000 for his role in the first “Transformers.” However, Bay’s deal passed on a fee for directing and executive producing in exchange for a slice of the profits from all the film’s revenue sources. The film, which cost the studio an estimated $155 million to make, earned over $700 million worldwide and was a top-selling DVD. Bay’s final take from the movie: somewhere in the neighborhood of $75 million.
LaBeouf is getting a raise for the sequel, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” His paycheck is estimated at about $5 million. Bay will once again get a cut of the profits, which could take longer to accumulate since the budget for the second movie approached $200 million.
ROVE interview Isabel Lucas
Matthew Marsden injured in Helicopter stunt
The Sunday Mercury caught up with Matthew Marsden to find out about his near death encounter with a helicopter on the set of Transformers 2:
“It was a nightmare,” recalls Matthew, speaking from his home in Los Angeles. “I had a very close shave when a helicopter crashed and missed me by a foot. I stepped out of the way a second before it hit the ground. The stunt went off too early, I should have been some considerable way away. I didn’t seriously injure myself, apart from shearing off one of my bottom teeth. There was a bit of blood, but my adrenaline kicked in so I didn’t feel it.
“I just remember the director, Michael Bay, shouting, ‘Oh my God! Everyone look at Matt!’. One of the crew rushed up and said, ‘Dude, do you have any idea how close that was?’. I said ‘As long as I look cool, I don’t care!’. People will probably think that it’s a computer-generated special effect, but I can assure you it was very real. It’s fine, I’m still here with all my fingers and toes, though not all my teeth.”
Insider interview Shia
Isabel Lucas interview
Sky News interviewed Isabel Lucas at the Tokyo world première:
It is Lucas’ first [press conference] and admits it’s overwhelming. ‘It’s been a whirlwind,’ she says. ‘I’ve worked on five productions since Home and Away and this is the first one to be released, so I haven’t ever experienced doing a press junket or a première, so this is like really being thrown right into the midst of it, into the deep end.’
Spielberg, who is an executive producer on the new Transformers movie, suggested her to director Michael Bay for the role of Alice after working with her on the HBO mini-series The Pacific, which he also produced. One successful audition later and Lucas had landed the biggest movie role of her career.
‘I was really intrigued by the character because there is more than meets the eye — literally,’ she says. ‘She’s a layered character, and that’s interesting for any actor to play really something different from yourself and to understand and relate to her even though she might have darker intentions. She’s fun to play.’
She describes one particular scene with LaBeouf which required an attention to detail that she’d never experienced before. The shot was so specific for a certain CGI effect that they were trying to achieve and the camera was about 30cm away and he (Bay) was like yelling at me so specifically to tilt my head down! Tilt it to the right! Tilt it down again! Now lift it slightly! But he really is an amazing visual genius, and the finished product you understand why he was being so specific with details.’
‘They know that this genre of film is not really what I’m drawn to, I’m drawn to scripts that are unique and have meaning. But that’s what is so wonderful about being an actor, is the diversity of the kind of films you can be a part of. I’m just honoured for the opportunity, and if it opens other doors career-wise I’ll be very fortunate.’